Aerial torpedo.



A.. M. SHUHANY. AERIAL TORPEDO. APPLIUATION FILED JULY11`, 1913.

` Patented' Fab. 1'?, 1914.

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l ANDREW IVI. SHHANY, OF CHELlVIS-FORD, MASSACHUSETTS.

AERIAL froRrEDo.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Feb. 17, 1914.

Applieationled July 11. 1913. Ser'i'al N0. 778,450.

'T0 all vrs/tom -z't may concern.'

Be it known that l, ANnREw l\I.'SHU IIANY, a subject of the UnitedKingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, residing at Chelmsford, in thecounty of Middlesex and Commonwealth of VMassacliusetts, have invented acertain new and useful Improve-V ment in Aerial Torpedoes, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to aerial torpedoes or torpedoes designed to bedropped or thrown from flying machines, as aeroplanes and air-ships ordirigible balloons.

The object of said invention is to secure in such torpedoes greatercertainty of discharge, accuracy of flight and safety in loading andhandling. and to prevent accif dental or. premature discharge.

ln the accompanying drawing Figure l is an elevation of the chargingside of the torpedo, the cover of the body or compartn'icnt whichcarries the explosive charge be'ingremoved, and the weight and drag andadjacent parts of the body being in central lon-- gitudinal section;Fig. Q, a section of the body on the line 2- 2 in Fig. 1'; Fig. 3, afront elevation of the torpedo; Fig. 4, a longitudinal central sectionof the firing-pin `guide, shoving said pin and its retracting spring inside elevation; Fig. 5, a side elevation of the plunger and itsguide-plug and check-nut and of the safety pin.

rllhe body A of the torpedo is a box of any suitable material, thepieces of which when the body bursts will serve as missiles, preferably,of metal as cast-iron, and preferably rectangular or, at least, having afiat side -on which it may rest while being filled. The cover B 'of thebox is ra-bbetedv at l) (Fig. 2) and the adjacent side-edges of the boxA are rabbeted at a to it the cover which is retained on the box bybolts or screws C which pass through the cover at right angles to theface of said cover, andv are tapped into the adjacent faces ofthe tworabbets as indicated in Figs. l and 2 and into the sides a2 of thesame.Opposite sides a2 have on their inner faces grooves or Ways a3 whichreceive the ends of a sliding crossbar D, which, is perforated midwaybetween its entsfto receive and fit a cartridge shell E filled with asuitable explosive andhaving a primer e filled with material eX-plosible by'percussion. The cartridge is retained in the holdingbar Dby. suitable retaining means as by a cap-screw F which turns insaid baruntil its head rests on the flange el of said cartridge. Two screws G Gpa'rallel with each other and with the ways a3 a pass through and arethreaded into the bar D near its ends and are just long enough to reachfrom the inner face of the cover B to the inner face of the oppositeside a* of the box A when said cover is fastened in place, so that vbyturning said screws G`G the primer e or a portion vof the flange c1, ifthe cartridge be a rim-fire cartridge, may be brought into exactalinement with the firing-pin H hereinafter described. A weight I,preferably of east-iron, having a tapering shape to cleave the air andrepresented as afrustuln of a rectangular pyramid, is rigidly secured byscrews z' z' to the front end al of the box A and has an aXl l hole 'il1n alinement with a perforation a5 in the box A.

The gravity of the substantially solid weight I causes the torpedo, whenlet go, to descend `vertically with said weight I in advance. y

Before the weight I is secured to Ithe box A, the rear end of thetubular tiring-pin guide J` (Figs. 1 and 4) the end at the right in Fig.4, said guide containing the ringpin H and its retracting spring L, isinserted in the perforation a5 up to the collar .7' and theguide-retaining spring M is placed-v in the hole l against an annularshoulder 2'2- in -said hole il and the other or lower end, of said guideis inserted in said spring M' and'hole up to said collar y', thecompression of said spring between said shoulder 112 and collar jholding said .collar against the front of the box A.

The guide J closely fits the perforation a and ,the 'firing-pin H has asliding fit in said g1 'de and is normally held out of contact wi h theprimer e of the cartridge by a spiral wire spring L surrounding said pinand compressed between the bottom jl of the counterboredl recess 7'2 anda collar ja on CII collar js, against an annular bea-ring plug j"secured in the front end of said guide.

an externally-threaded plug n turned in the front end of said hole andprevented from becoming loose by a check-nut nl. The plunger is normally.kept out of Contact with the firing-pin by a spiralY spring' n2surrounding said plunger and compressed between said reduced part 3- ofthe hole i" and the collar n3.

For greater security in loading and han dling the torpedo, a safety pinis passed through a transverse hole in the plunger y. close to the frontend of the bearing plug,

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said pin being represented as smaller at the point o for easyintroduction and provided 'on its larger part with a screw-thread 0F toengagea corresponding thread. in said hole. Theo plunger at its frontend has an enlarged head n4.

For greater directness of iiight and to keep the weight in. advance atall times, a drag P is secured to the rear end of the body A byl screws72 p", said drag consisting of a box of light material as Wood andhaving a cover p hinged thereto at p1 p1 and secured when closed by a.latch p2. This drag or box is substantially empty of everything but air,althouoh it may be used.'v to contain a 'few coils o? a time fuse vQwhen desired. The safety-'fuse Q ends within the body or box A in acartridge or case Q containing any .desired highly-explosive material sothat if the torpedo is dropped over water or la bog and might fail toexplode,

4owing tothe little resistance offered by'these,

or should strike a glancing blow on rock or other hard material betweenthe front and rear of the weight and be thrown on its side without thehead of the plunger striking, the4 explosion of the torpedo willbejcertain.

'The fuse Q goes throuoh holes a v3 p* to the it may bey outside of thetorpedb so that lighted before dropping the torpedo. The

' body A is loaded with explosive material and may also contain missilesand highly iniammable material, like Greek fire, to createconfia-grations.

The construction of the `firing-pin guide and its coperating parteallows said guida` to be pushed forward until the firing pin projectstherefrom, so'that the firing-pin may be grasped by the thumb and lingerand brought in contact with the cartridge or sufficiently nearto it todetermine the correct position Tof the primer or rim ot the cartridgewith reference to the tiring-pin.

'I claim as my invention:

l. The combination in an aerial torpedo,

I ot a hollow body adapted to receive explosive material, a taperingweight secured to the front of said body, and a drag of lighter 2. Thecombination in an aerial torpedo,-

of a body consisting of a hollow box adapted to receive explosivematerial, a metallic weight secured to the front'o'f said body, and adrag consisting' of a substantially empty box secured to the rear ofsaid body and projecting beyond the sides of the same.

The combination in a torpedo, of a hollow body having a perforatedfront, means for holding a cartridge in said body in alinement -Withsaid perforation, a Weight rigidly secured to the front of said body andhaving a hole in alinement with said perfo ration, a firing pin arrangedin said perforation and hole, Ameans 'for guiding said ring pin, aspring normally to hold said firing pin out of contact with saidcartridge, a plunger arranged in said hole and projecting from the frontof said weight and means for normally holding said plunger out oicontact with said firing-pin.

4. The combination in a torpedo, of a hollow body having a perforatedfront, a weight secured to the front of said body and having a holetherethrough in alinement with said perforation, said hole having amiddle portion ot reduced diameter, a tubular iring-pin guide arrangedin said .perforation and hole and having in its front portion a counter-bored recess, a liring pin longer than said guide, and provided.with a collar, a spring arranged in said recess and compressed betweenthe rear end of said recess and said collar, a bearing-plug for saidfiring-pin secured in the front end of said guide, a. plunger having acollar arranged in said hole in alinement with said firingpm, a springcompressed between said last named collar and the annular shoulder atthe reduced part of said hole, an externallythreaded plug through whichsaid plunger projects in front of said weight, and means for preventingaccidental turning of said lu p 5. rlhe combination in a torpedo, ot ahollow body having a perforated front, a. j

weight secured to the front of said body having a A hole therethrough inalinement with said perforation, said-hole having a middle portionof'reduced diameter, a tubular tiring-pin guide arranged in saidperforation and hole, and having in its front portion a counter-boredrecess, and having a collar, a spring surrounding said guide in front ofsaid collar and compressed between said collar, and a shoulder in saidhole normally to hold said collar against the front of said body, aAfiring-pin longer than said guide and arranged in said guide andprovided with a coilar, a spring arranged in said recess and4compressed"heiween the rear e In wit-ness whereof, I have affixed mysigend of said recess and said last named collar, nature in presence ofwo witnesses.

and adjustable means for holding afk car- .tridgeiin said body, to'enable said guide to ANDREW M SHUHANY' be pushed forward and saidfiring-pin to Witnesses: j be drawn backward to observe the alinemeni;vALBERT M. MOORE,

\ of said pin withsaid cartridge. WILLIAM F. CUii'rIN.

